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Elisha Evans and Joe SaxtonAuthors of Five Key Trends and Their Impact on the Voluntary Sector Elisha Evans is Project Co-ordinator and Research Analyst for nfpSynergy, a think-tank for not-for-profit organisations in England . She has been responsible for the research, design and analysis of a variety of projects including the London Housing Foundation's 'Future of Homelessness' project and Crisis 'Learning and Cross-fertilisation programme'. She has recently researched and co-authored several reports including "Five key trends and their impact on the voluntary sector", "The Future of Homelessness" and "Innovation: A roadmap for homeless agencies". Instrumental in developing the not-for-profit content of nVisiononline.co.uk, Elisha has spent much time researching and analysing all sources of UK trend information as well as voluntary sector specific data. She is currently in between degrees (Psychology and social science) at University of Queensland , where her specialist subjects are Social Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Research Methods.
Before nfpSynergy, Joe Saxton was Director of Communications at the RNID, Britain 's largest charity for deaf and hard of hearing people, responsible for PR, disability consultancy, lobbying, campaigning, policy, information and membership. He was with Brann, the world's largest direct marketing group for five years and has worked with numerous charities. He co-founded the Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing and is the author of 'It's Competition, but not as we know it' and 'What are Charities for?' both published by Third Sector. More recently he researched and reported on charity use of the Internet - Virtual Promise. For six years he was a trustee of the RSPCA and chair of both the Public Affairs and International committees. He is now a trustee of the Institute of Fundraising. He is an acknowledged expert in the area of charity branding. He has written and published extensively on branding in the not-for-profit sector including in the Journal of Brand Management. His recent publication on branding 'Polishing the Diamond' has been described as the 'definitive' work. He is now working on two major reports on the future of charities and charity trusteeship. Biographies of Invited Guest Commentators Suzanne Lawson is the Director of Volunteer Resources at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and formerly the National Executive Director of the ALS Society of Canada , a national voluntary health organization. She is a graduate in Arts of Queen's University (with a prize in Radio Broadcasting)and the Ontario Faculty of Education. She was among the first Canadians awarded certification in Volunteer Administration (International Association of Volunteer Administration). Suzanne was Executive Director of Program for the Anglican Church of Canada (1992 -97), Executive Director of The Arthritis Society, Ontario (1987-92), and held the position of Director of Regional Services for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Ontario Division (1983-87). Suzanne demonstrated experience and leadership in the voluntary sector by co-chairing the Joint Table on the Awareness of the Voluntary Sector and functioning as a member of the Voluntary Sector Steering Group for the recent Canadian federal government Voluntary Sector Initiative (2000-02). She was a member of the Voluntary Sector Roundtable (1994-99), a small group working towards building the capacity of the voluntary sector in areas of accountability, governance, and relationship with the Federal Government. She most recently held a position on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Genetics Advisory Board (2000-03). In 2002, Suzanne was the first Canadian to receive the Harriet Naylor Distinguished Member Service Award from the international Association of Volunteer Administration. The ALS Society of Canada made her the first awardee of the William Fraser Medal in Leadership and Organizational Development. She is also a recipient of the Queen's Jubilee Medal. Lucas C.P.M. Meijs graduated in 1991 at the Faculty of Business Administration/ Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands . He joined the doctorate program in general management at the same institute. In 1997 he defended his PhD dissertation: "Management of Volunteer Organizations". He is Assistant Professor in the Department of Business-Society Management at the Faculty of Business Administration, Erasmus University , Rotterdam . He teaches nonprofit management and business-nonprofit partnerships. He has published articles on issues relating to volunteer management, nonprofit management, how to support/promote volunteering and volunteer organizations, and the relationship between business and nonprofit. He writes a column in Vakwerk , the Dutch magazine for volunteering. He is a member of the Dutch National Policy Committee on local volunteer policy, aimed at getting local municipalities to create policies to support volunteerism. He is member of several advisory boards, such as Scouting Netherlands and X-zorg (a national volunteer care organization). He is chair of the local neighborhood association and board member of the alumni association of the Rotterdam School of Management. A consultant and trainer in volunteerism and community engagement, Sarah Jane Rehnborg received her undergraduate degree from Denison University and her Masters and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to establishing a program of volunteerism and community education at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in the 1970s, Sarah Jane established the Institute for Volunteerism at the Community College of Allegheny County and was Associate Administrator of Human Resources at John J. Kane Hospital , a 1200-bed extended-care facility with 14 bargaining units. As president of the international Association for Volunteer Administration, she testified before a Congressional hearing sponsored by Senator Durenberger (R - Minn.). Sarah Jane has worked as a consultant for the Points of Light Foundation and the Comptroller's Office of the State of Texas, where she participated in the state performance review system examining the role of citizen participation in state government. She also worked with the Texas Department of Mental Health/Mental Retardation and as a consultant to the Texas Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service, where she was the architect of the first state plan to bring national service funding to Texas . Prior to joining the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, she was director of community engagement for the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Sarah Jane has written numerous articles and documents in the field and is the author of Starter Kit for Mobilizing Ministry, published by Leadership Network; and Volunteer Youth Training and Leadership , a comprehensive high school curriculum in service and volunteerism which was later adopted by the state of Maryland. She also researched and established the performance standards for the professional administration of volunteers and implemented a national professional certification system. Roger Tweedy hails from Wellington in New Zealand , and has been involved in employment activism since 1985 in a variety of ways - as a tutor, policy advisor, lobbyist, local employment co-ordinator, and as a founder of several new enterprises. His achievements include the co-creation of the Volunteer Centre in Wellington, the establishment of the NEWORK Centre, and more recently the NRG Trust, a support agency/incubator for young entrepreneurs. In 2001 Roger was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study one of his specialties - work futures - in North America, where he represented the Australasian region in the creation of the Universal Declaration on the Profession of Leading and Managing Volunteers.
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